Seattle Christian defensive stops preserved a 47-45 non-league boys basketball opener against visiting Steilacoom on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
With SCS trailing 45-44, Richard Jensen's pump fake beyond the three-point arc drew a shooting foul against the Sentinels with 42.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Jensen dropped in the first two of three free throw attempts to give Seattle Christian a 46-45 lead.
The Sentinels attempted to retaliate on an inside drive, but the presence of the Warriors' 6 feet, 4 inch Chaise DeVries forced the player to alter his shot, resulting in a truly poor attempt. Eleven seconds later, Shawn Abe drained the front end of a one-and-one for a 47-45 advantage.
With 15.4 seconds left, Steilacoom rebounded its own missed shot and called time out in its back court to set up a winning or tieing situation. When the Sentinels crossed center court, Kyle Pierotti pilfered the ball and SCS called time out with 2.2 seconds remaining.
Abe passed the ball into the court and the game ended with the desperate Steilacoom defenders unable to steal and score in one fell swoop.
"I thought they would shoot a three, so I just got in position by anticipating the spot," explained Abe.
This happened to be Abe's only steal of the game, but it loomed largely.
"It was our first game out and I anticipated jitters," said Seattle Christian head coach Shaun DeYager. "I appreciated that they never quit. The game changers were the little things like diving on the floor to get loose balls.This got them going and got the fans going. Today was our first game and tomorrow is chapter two. It gets harder, so we need to keep preparing. We want to get up and down the floor and push the offense. We also want more motion to stay fast paced because we have the ability to push the ball. I want three guys in double figures (in scoring) while changing things up on defense."
On this night, DeYager had three players in double figures. Senior guard Richard Jensen paced the Warriors with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting from standard range plus a three-pointer on his only try outside the arc. DeVries was 5-for-9 as part of his 11 points while hauling down 10 rebounds. Cody Miller added 10 points for SCS.
"I was trying to be sure I was in front of their players on defense," stated DeVries. "I just tried to make them take tough shots."
Stifling defenses, including full court pressure, dominated the action from the outset as the Warriors turned a 9-7 deficit after the first quarter into a 19-17 halftime advantage.
Steilacoom fired off six consecutive points to open the second half with a 23-19 lead.
Two inside power moves by DeVries followed by two Jensen charity tosses brought Seattle Christian into a 25-23 advantage.
The game stayed extremely close while the teams battled to a 27-27 standoff before the start of the fourth quarter. From this point, Cody Gunhus joined Jensen and Miller to keep SCS in the forefront of the back-and-forth tussle that produced four ties until the teams exchanged one point leads.
Steilacoom gained its final lead at 45-44 with 1:21 remaining, thus setting the stage for the frantic finale.
Jensen also explained the Warrior success down the stretch.
"We made the big shots at the end," he said. "Our defense was good. Our team is faster this year and has team unity. We just have to go out there and do it."
Cameron Clanton and Jake Esseln scored 17 points and 11 points respectively. Both players earned nine rebounds. SCS had only 12 turnovers compared to Steilacoom's 20. The Warriors led in steals, 11-7.
At the beginning of halftime, SCS Middle School students staged a two minute freeze (of movement) at court side to draw attention to their table that had details of their 24-hour famine which began after breakfast this day and would end the next morning. This was a modified version of World Vision's 30-hour famine as a way of raising funds to benefit the needy around the world.
The idea was an extension of junior varsity coach Matt Althoff's seventh grade English and Geography class projects.
"We are studying East Africa and this was a way of learning about issues like poverty and hunger," he said. "The freeze was to draw attention to the table and give the kids a chance to occupy time while they're hungry."
Chaise DeVries, Richard Jensen, Kyle Pierotti, Tyler Stein, Manny Sauer and Joey Grachek represent the seniors on this season's Seattle Christian Class 1A Nisqually League roster. Spencer Eble, Cody Gunhus, Shane Pierotti and Shawn Abe are juniors while Cody Miller is the lone sophomore.
Head coach DeYager is assisted by Jon Jacobs, Dave VanderPol, Scott Hay and Allen Chinn.
